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The Bluff Grass - Interesting real-life incidents, funny experiences, travel, photography, reviews, poems, and more. Read, interact and make this a useful hang-out spot. You can post your comments, suggestions, and critiques under the respective blog topics.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Caught Special - 67

Some more in the Moon series of Caught Special!

What: Full moon
Where: At home 
When: 24 January 2016
How: Canon EOS 700D






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This is a series of Caught Special pictures that I captured at different places.
Please share your comments here.
To see all postings in this Caught Special series, click here.
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Saturday, December 17, 2016

Caught Special - 66

A Moon series of Caught Special! This was a full moon on Christmas day last year, taken from our terrace in Bangalore. 

A few cloud smeared dream sequence like pictures, and some in a few tone and zoom conditions, showing the same moon a few different outlooks. Also take a moment to see the last two pictures closely; the one I had clicked on 25Dec15, and the one that NASA had released in advance here on 18Dec15 about how it will appear on 25Dec15!

What: Full moon
Where: At home 
When: 25 December 2015
How: Canon EOS 700D







NASA's image released on 18Dec15

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This is a series of Caught Special pictures that I captured at different places.
Please share your comments here.
To see all postings in this Caught Special series, click here.
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[ You can SUBSCRIBE to my Blog here ]

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Caught Special - 65

After you have seen in Caught Special-47, Caught Special-55, and Caught Special-61, here is my recent culinary work! 

What: Kothu Porotta - My preparation
Where: At home 
When: December 2016
How: Xiaomi Mi-5

Vegetarian


Non-Vegetarian


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This is a series of Caught Special pictures that I captured at different places.
Please share your comments here.
To see all postings in this Caught Special series, click here.
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[ You can SUBSCRIBE to my Blog here ]

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Caught Special - 64

An Indian Sunbird stopped by our balcony. Unfortunately it was too jumpy and I did not have a proper camera on hand. I could just take a few clicks

What: An Indian Sunbird
Where: At home 
When: 18th October 2016
How: Xiaomi Mi-5





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This is a series of Caught Special pictures that I captured at different places.
Please share your comments here.
To see all postings in this Caught Special series, click here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ You can SUBSCRIBE to my Blog here ]

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Caught Grinning - 69

MATHAR INDIA!!

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This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Click on the picture(s) to see bigger version. Click here to view all 'Caught Grinning' postings under this series.
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* * * You can write your COMMENTS about this Post BY CLICKING HERE * * * 
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Saturday, November 12, 2016

Caught Grinning - 68

Sounds like Maan Karaate (à®®ான் கராத்தே)?!!



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This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Click on the picture(s) to see bigger version. Click here to view all 'Caught Grinning' postings under this series.
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* * * You can write your COMMENTS about this Post BY CLICKING HERE * * * 
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Monday, October 31, 2016

Caught Special - 63

A Green Barbet stopped by the silver oak avenue trees close to our balcony. Though it was not sitting at a perfect angle, I could make a few clicks really quick. I had to use the long zoom lens and it came out, decent

What: A Green Barbet
Where: At home 
When: 30th October 2016
How: Canon EOS 700D, 55-250mm lens





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a series of Caught Special pictures that I captured at different places.
Please share your comments here.
To see all postings in this Caught Special series, click here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ You can SUBSCRIBE to my Blog here ]

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Caught Special - 62

You may have read my recent post about our Kumarakom Trip with a few pictures, here

Here are some of the caught special pictures clicked during that trip. Catch pictures of birds, a dragonfly, a snake, night vision images, and a few scenery. You can also see a 12-snap combo picture of that snake crossing in the river clicked from a moving boat in a span of about 38s

What: A Duck on a stroll
Where: Waterscapes, Kumarakom 
When: 11th October 2016
How: Canon EOS 700D, 18-55mm lens

What: A waiting Kingfisher
Where: Waterscapes, Kumarakom 
When: 11th October 2016
How: Canon EOS 700D, 55-250mm lens

Friday, October 28, 2016

Kumarakom Trip

We did this 2 days and 2 nights trip to Kumarakom recently between 11th Oct and 13th Oct. A mix of good, and messed up bad experience, Kerala's infamous, brand identity, an unexpected hartaal!
 
Highlights
  • Waterscapes, a Kerala Tourism Development Corporation place.
  • Unique canal-themed backwater resort with stilted wooden hut cottage rooms.
  • On the shores of Vembanad lake, and nested inside the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary.
  • Cottage on a micro island with tiny canals all around, you reach through maze of mini bridges.
  • A long walk inside the Bird Sanctuary, footpath, dense tree-cover (but no birds, as it was off season).
  • But saw some nice birds in the resort, like Kingfishers, Cormorants, Pond Herons, etc.
  • Trees and mangrove vegetation, ducks, turtles, dragon flies, squirrels, in the resort.
  • A wink and miss sighting of monitor lizard that came by.
  • Front lobby building - a brick structure built on stilts on the canal waters; as if floating.
  • Pearlspot Restaurant - a wooden structure built on stilts in the lake backwaters; as if floating.
  • Night walks from inside the resort to the main road amidst dark dense trees.
  • The long walk to the nearby boat jetty on Meenachil river.
  • A calm short boat-cruise on Meenachil river.
Lowlights
  • Food
    • Exorbitant cost of buffet lunch and dinner (each Rs 750 per head) at the restaurant.
    • Walking on the highway in the night to a restaurant farby(!) was not too safe.
  • Bird sanctuary
    • October is not a good time to see any birds in the sanctuary. 
    • Even after a long walk for 2 KM inside we did not spot even one bird there.
    • But we saw some of them within our resort itself where we stayed.
  • Tatkaal ticket
    • We had to look for tatkaal ticket online on the next day of stay there.
    • The internet was scratchy and their wifi was flaky too. 
    • Ran around from the lake shore to the cottage to the front desk; 3-4 hours messed up.
  • Hartaal
    • A big issue in Kerala. Never know when there will be a complete flash strike!
    • We were to vacate the next morning at 11 am, but at 11 pm previous night we heard this!
    • Our train to Bangalore was at 3:30 PM from Kottayam Railway Station.
    • We were 18 KM from Kottayam Railway Station and no vehicles from 6 AM next!!
    • We vacated 4:30 am, got to a hotel 2.5 KM far from Kottayam Railway Station.
    • Town was completely empty, with no shops or restaurants open; no vehicles on road.
    • The day was messed up; came out and saw nothing; stayed indoors for that ~8 hours.
    • Their restaurant was closed too, with just minimal room service, so we were lucky.
    • Had to start the 2.5 KM walk from hotel to Railway Station, carrying all our baggage.
    • Luckily we got an auto after we walked >1 KM.
Photos
Here are some pictures from our trip, and an Itinerary Outline and a few Trip Tips at the end...

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Caught Grinning - 67

Try Cycle, Walkers, kid Cycle, Helmate, Two Wheele, Tyre & Tube.




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This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Click on the picture(s) to see bigger version. Click here to view all 'Caught Grinning' postings under this series.
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* * * You can write your COMMENTS about this Post BY CLICKING HERE * * * 
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Saturday, October 15, 2016

Caught Grinning - 66

Six simple Caught Grinning pictures from our recent Europe trip.

1) Paris: Ooh this building looks so unstable - Like a stack of boxes!

2) Paris: This building is under renovation - See the nice fake facade cover?

3) Paris: Flight over.

4) Belgium: A container standing on its corner!

5) Amsterdam: A trolley full of kids!

6) Amsterdam: What a place to relax and read a book!
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This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Click on the picture(s) to see bigger version. Click here to view all 'Caught Grinning' postings under this series.
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* * * You can write your COMMENTS about this Post BY CLICKING HERE * * * 
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Saturday, October 8, 2016

Caught Grinning - 65

enriching skills tktough technology!


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This is a series posting such pictures I captured at different places. Click on the picture(s) to see bigger version. Click here to view all 'Caught Grinning' postings under this series.
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* * * You can write your COMMENTS about this Post BY CLICKING HERE * * * 
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